Cover of The Monster
First off, the news that a lot of people have been waiting for. Another Exodus book will be out on Saturday. Not Empires at War, my most popular series. No, this one will be Exodus: Machine War: Book 5: The Code. It will be the end of that side series, though some of the characters will be appearing in the next Empires at War books. And several of those books will be released within the next three months.
Now, on to The Monster. I wrote this book seven years ago, when I was looking for something different that might attract the attention of a publisher. Then, in August of last year, I looked it over, thinking to self-publish. I read it over at DragonCon, and really liked what I read. Since I hadn’t looked at it in over five years, it was like reading a new work by someone else. I decided to send it to an agent I had met at DragonCon the year before. She looked it over, and didn’t like it. I then realized that this book would be unlikely to find a home with any publisher. It was just too different. Fair enough. I could publish it myself, though I still waited a while to do so.
Originally titled Soulless. That title fits, as anyone who reads this novel will agree with. The only problem was there were at least a dozen books with that title, and as I learned with The Hunger, it is best to avoid that kind of confusion. So I started plugging names into Amazon, starting with The Monster, and found there were few to none with that name. It also seemed to fit, so there you have it.
I classified The Monster as science fiction horror, because it has elements of both. Teleportation, nanotech, genetic engineering, replication, mind control, and a plot to take over the world by a scientist who was changed somehow by the process he developed. The terror of people who knew they were being controlled and weren’t able to do anything about it. It would be rated R if it were a movie, so this one is not for the kids, or the squeamish. Still, I think it is an interesting tale, and it is being released on Kindle Unlimited, so those with a membership can read it for free (or at least for whatever percentage of their membership fee goes toward my book. Remember, there is no such thing as free). I hope people who read my other work will give it a chance. Or that even the horror crowd will try it. It can be found on Amazon.US here, and Amazon.UK here.
Doug BrotherofCats Dandridge 
Personally, I really enjoy the Machine Wars books, and like reading other storylines in the worlds of other favorite series such as Empires. What I don’t understand is why do authors just stop writing successful series? Do you just get tired of the characters, or does your imagination cease working, perhaps you get sick of writing about the same thing, or maybe my definition of successful isn’t the same as yours. If it’s a financial matter then of course that’s your business and you need to do what’s best for you, but somehow I have to think the Empires and Machine Wars have been profitable for you. So why are you killing off the goose that lays golden eggs so to speak and eating it for Thanksgiving.
Why would you resurrect an old book, one passed on by agents and a dubious effort by your own admission, instead of writing more Machine Wars books that have so many obvious unexplored storylines just waiting for you to write.
Obviously your first duty is to yourself but as a fan who has bought all of the books in these series I’d really like to read more of them. You don’t owe me or the golden goose anything but it’s been a long time since your last release. I’m starting to feel unappreciated and questioning my loyalty.
First off, releasing a book I wrote some time ago takes almost none of my writing time. And if you read my blog, you will have noted that when I read it in September I really like it. As far as success, the books have been decreasing slightiy in readership with each release, so they are no longer all that golden. Then, yes, I am running out of ideas in that universe, but have plenty of other story ideas in other genres. It was a damn strugle writing Machine War 5. Many times I couldn’t bring myself to write on it, and worked on other projects. I’m sorry if you feel like this was aimed at you, but basically I’m burned out on the whole Exodus thing, and need to do something else. I might return to it some day, and still have two or three books in the Empires at War series to do, but after that I need to move on.And to let you know, I have had many books passed on by agents and publishers that have done well, so their approval isn’t really that important.